Hedgehog Hibernation Survey

After three hugely successful years, the survey will not be happening this year. Thank you to all of you who contributed to the 150,000 sightings– one of the largest datasets in the world about hedgehog behaviour.

This survey has been a shining example of citizen science and broadened our understanding of this threatened animal. Here is a summary of what we have learnt, and an outline of where we go next.

What did we find out?

The 2012-2014 Hibernation Survey was run in partnership with British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) as part of our joint Hedgehog Street campaign.

It was designed to re-evaluate data collected in the 1960s that showed regional differences in the timings of hedgehog emergence from hibernation, as well as explore the possible effects of climate change on hibernation behaviour.

Our results showed no significant difference in emergence timings, suggesting that climate change is yet to have a measurable impact on this aspect of hedgehog behaviour. Regional differences in hedgehog emergence were also absent from the recent data.

This massive database is also a really useful benchmark from which to make comparisons in the future.